Accommodation levels in Rio de Janeiro are anticipated to be at full occupancy during the conference. While it is not the responsibility of the United Nations to procure accommodation for the media, it should be noted that the Brazilian national organizing committee for Rio+20 has committed to blocking a minimum of 500 hotel rooms in Rio de Janeiro for media covering the conference. Costs must be covered by the media. For more details, visit: http://www.rio20.gov.br For information regarding room availability please contact: Terramar Travel Agency

The ICLEI briefing sheets are intended to give a brief but informative overview of some of the salient matters that underpin ICLEI's approach to Rio+20. This briefing sheet looks both at the reasons for a Green Economy and what it looks like, and the role that local governments can play there.

Practitioners and scientists alike argue that local governments have an important role to play in the design of the new economy. Given the sizeable role of cities and local governments in both global GDP production and in environmental footprints, it is clear that their potential to act needs to be employed to counter the problems they are currently causing.

So what actions can be undertaken at the local level? What incentives and framework conditions to local actors need, and how can their capacities be utilized?